1. Scaled is speaking of an orbital one-person-spacecraft as a carrier to a space station of the Bigelow kind. The spacecraft would be similar to SpaceShipOne.

2. Interorbital is constructing a rocket and intends to use the tank of the second stage as hab.

3. SpaceX for the first time has scheduled unmanned launches of rockets only.

4. Armadillo and Starchaser are still working on parabolic/hyperbolic flights.

This not being the technical forum, I won't go into details, but if Scaled want to have a plane that goes into orbit, it is going to be nothing even remotely like SS1. It needs 10 times the fuel for the same mass ship to get there, and thats only the start.

However, apparently they have plans, and I would definitely like to see them. Scaled certainly makes interesting projects. They can pretty well be relied upon not to do what is normal.

The problem for the xp organization is not the idea..
They just don't have the extra 20+50, so 70 Million, you're suggesting to use... for the prizes.

Paul Allen and John Carmack will not give a large sum of money to the xprize to help a prize to promote other teams to start working for space developments, they are investing it in their own project.

XP is trying to get all the money they can get, but getting 10 million US$ isn't easy, getting 70 Million.. in a few years time.. is almost "not possible".

The idea about rich people paying is nice.. but if they would be easy to convince.. those people would be "poor" people, they will not just give away a lot of money.. and not all of them are intrested in space.

Also manny manny manny.. other people have suggestions, and a lot others suggested a second prize etc.. and the xp organization have their own volunteers "teams" working on ideas and you can be sure they ideas are a lot more advanced then your current idea.

But really... you'll only cost them time... there're other people who've suggested similar ideas and it won't help the xprize getting money, helping the xprize cup etc etc... and a new prize idea will only happen when there is a lot money.. and there's a large chance.. scaled etc will already have succeeded in getting to go to orbit and back before they will be able to put up a new large prize.

I don't wanne be rude.. but there's a large chance you will not get any reaction from the xp organization on such suggestions, or if you get a reaction it will be short and tell they will look into it or just not with a smile.. and you'll never hear from them again.
I own a business.. and I know how annoying it is to get people suggest a lot of things.. where your whole company planned "thousands" of hours before about... your suggestion is on a few seconds proven "not good" for them.
And even if it's good.. the rights to the idea will be yours.. so they won't use it, else you could sue them because they used your idea. Anyway your idea isn't unique.. maybe the numbers.. so it will be somewhere in their papers toghetter with "thousands" of other potential business plans (or in the list of proven not possible).

The US sends a small canister to LEO with a US Treasury note for $75 million in it. The rules: whoever get's it WITH a manned vehicle, and brings it back, can cash it, but it get it before the orbit degrades and the payload burns up.

The X-Prize will be over, one way or another, at the end of this year. Whatever comes after it, doesn't have to follow the exact same rules of the X-Prize because

A: The X-Prize will probably have accomplished its mission by then (and it mostly already has) and

B: New criteria will call for different rules.

I agree with Rand Simburg on this. Government awarded prizes can be a productive way to encourage the development of CATS.

(on the other hand, he's dead wrong about the SRB derived CEV launcher being a bad idea.. The SRB CEV launcher is the best idea for a Semi-RLV I've seen in a long time. Sorry had to put in a barb there)

Mr. Bigelow has come out with a [GET THIS!], 50 MILLION DOLLARPRIZE for the first nongovernment/commercial MANNED spacecraftto orbit the Earth!!!

50,000,000 DOLLAR MANNED ORBITAL PRIZE!!!!

Who suggested the idea here FIRST on this forum page?YES! On this forum page!

I gather a certain Belgian and a German feel very embarrassed to bePROVEN WRONG!!!

1) I hope you're not suggesting they used your idea, cause they had it planned before you had it posted on this forum.. and if they didn't used your idea source, then a part of my reply to your post has been proven right, not wrong.

2) It's not 50 million, and the prize isn't 100% sure yet, cause if you read "better" that the prize is only funded for 50%, and that bigelow will "try" to find other sources to sponsor, as example nasa, but they are limited to 10 million for next year to prizes. so this prize is not yet proven to be possible., so it's not 70 million, and not fully funded 50 million (25 million funded) so the other part of my post is also "not wrong".

3) and as I told you before, there're several ideas already planned way long before, this is one from bigelow, and other may follow, but it has nothing to do with your idea that your idea is superior (as you seem to suggest), everyone had already in mind a planning with a new prize.. only the money is a limitation and as I told before, people had suggested before a new prize, with more money for orbital.

I was only annoyed by your style of writing, suggesting your idea was superior and that THE X PRIZE organization HAD to read it.

You also have to accept you haven't proven me wrong, so i'm not embarrassed, cause if you read my "text" litterly, it has just been proven, your idea wasn't worth suggesting to the xprize, and has just proven my post to be "right", not your comments.

I said 70 million is "almost" imposible to gather, this is only 25 million, I said the xprize organization (and in this case an other company) had already a lot of ideas and don't need to be annoyed by someone pushing them ideas, while not even accepting criticisme of other forum members.

And to end your comments, I'm chatting "daily" with people inside the X Prize organization, I know them, I know it's history and it's news, I'm the admin over here, and the founder of xprizenews.org, so if you think I'm wrong, feel free, but this is no free speech forum, so no place to win a fight.
If you think I'm wrong, proof me wrong, I won't ban you.. or moderate you.
Atleast, as long as you take my words "litterly, without neurotical reading and switching words to proof a lost case, we're not bush & kerry debating".

I never stated that I was against a new orbital prize with larger money, I was commenting on the way you where suggesting "your" idea, and that the money (70 million in your case) will be difficult to get. so I think it's a little simplistic and wrong, to suggest that I was wrong, cause that's litterly a "lie", on this moment, my post is still right, nothing has proven it wrong.

Also, I know it's easy to read words wrong, to remember things wrong.. we're all human.. our brains sometimes tell things we want to believe, we think someone told, but that he or she actually didn't.
You're also upsetting people a little on this other topic:
http://www.xprize.org/messageboard/view ... =7418#7418

Please calm down, and get to the facts..., cause life is more complex than beeing right and wrong..

Please calm down, and get to the facts..., cause life is more complex than beeing right and wrong..

I could say that goes for both of you.

Pete wrote:

Heres to another 70,000 posts, may the 70,000th post be made by a private individual from orbit!

Wicked. it might actually happen! Good to know we'll all be sticking around here for another six years (due to the Bigelow prize). Or maybe there will be a forum over there that we all move to? Who knows.

Regardless, we'll all remember 927 as one of the most important days in space history.